If you have your Bible, why don't
you open it again to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I want to begin reading with verse
28 and read through the end of the chapter. Paul the Apostle in writing to
the church at Rome says, and we know, and we know, Paul was
a man of experience, and he said we know by experience. that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreordain, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate
them he also called, that is with the effectual call, the
call of God's grace wherein he wakes up the dead sinner, brings
him to life. And whom he called, them he also
justified, gave them a standing before him just as if they had
never sinned. And whom he give this standing,
them he also in his mind, not happened yet, But in the mind
of God, they've already been glorified. What shall we then
say to these things? These things that he's just mentioned.
If God be for us, who can be against us? If God be so for
us, as he's explained, then who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely? give us all things. It's all
of grace. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect, those whom God has chosen? It is God
that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Before
I begin my message this morning, I think that it's necessary to
help you to see who it is that the Apostle Paul says these things
to. We don't want to open somebody
else's mail, do we? We want to open our own mail
and we want to know whether or not these words are directed
to us or somebody else. Now in the first verse of this
chapter, in chapter 8 verse 1, Paul says, There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now by making
that particular statement, he is saying that what he is talking
about belongs to those who are in Christ Jesus. Those who are
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we know that all believers,
true believers, all those who have been saved by the grace
of God are in Christ as Noah was in the ark when the flood
came. Back in Genesis chapter 6, we read where that, in verse
18, where God said to Noah, but with thee will I establish my
covenant. I'll make an agreement with you,
Noah, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and
thy wife and thy sons, wives with thee. And then in verse
1 of chapter 7, and the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and
all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before
me in this generation. Come into the ark. Now all those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ, they have come into the ark of
safety. They're in the ark of safety.
They're in the only place of safety. They are in Christ. Now, if you wouldn't, you have
your Bible, you want to hold your finger there in Romans 8,
and turn with me to Ephesians 1. I'll further illustrate this.
I want you to know to whom Paul is saying these things. It's
so important that we not in any way, shape, or form misunderstand
to whom he's writing. Now, in Ephesians 1, we read
in verse 3, Well, first of all, let's back
up to verse 1. where Paul addresses the church at Ephesus, he says,
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints,
which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. That little word, in, is very
important. And then in verse 3, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
according in verse 4, as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. And then in verse 7, the first
two words of the verse, in whom in whom, meaning in Christ we
have redemption, through His blood the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace. And then in verse 11,
in whom also we've obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. So we see that the writer of
Scripture speaks to the Lord's people as those who are in Christ,
in the Lord Jesus. Now in writing to the church
of the Philippians in the first chapter, Paul says, Paul and
Timotheus to the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints
in Christ Jesus. The saints of God are those who
have been born again, regenerated by the Spirit of God, chosen
of God in the old time, and have been regenerated, and they're
alive in the Lord, and they're in Christ Jesus. That's where
you're at today, positionally before God, if so be that you
have saving faith. If so, be that you're regenerate,
that you're alive in the Lord. If you have eternal life abiding
in you, then you are in Christ Jesus. And then we read further. I just want you to see that this
is the pattern of Scripture in Colossians We read in the first
chapter, Paul addressing the church at Colossae, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus, our
brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. in Christ. So Paul further addresses
the people of God as being in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's
turn a little further here, I think to the book of Colossians, let's
see, we've read that, and then in, I think it's Thessalonians,
Paul speaks of, again, We notice Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus,
he says, unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God
the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what we've
discovered here then in our reading is that this is very common for
the Apostle Paul to direct his message to those that are in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now as we go back to Romans chapter
8, I want to talk to you about four great fears that have been
removed from our hearts as the people of God, as those who are
in Christ Jesus. And you can receive this message
this morning as directly from the Apostle Paul to your own
heart if so be that you know it's a settled matter that you're
in Christ Jesus. Are you a believer? Have you
believed on the Son of God? Have you trusted Him? Has God
been pleased to work a work of grace in your heart? Do you feel
yourself to be in Christ Jesus? Now, beloved, there's no salvation
in religion. There's no salvation being a
member of a church. Salvation's in a person. And
that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. And you must be in Him
in order that you have all the blessings which He procured on
Calvary's cross. You must be in Him to receive
His love and His mercy and His grace, yea, even His salvation. And so when we come here, there's
four great fears that I want to talk just briefly to you about
that bothered me a great deal when I was a young believer.
And I was thinking and meditating for the last few days upon some
of the experiences that I had as a believer and how that these
verses answered some of those fears and delivered me, these
fears were removed from my life by the study of these verses.
And first of all, the first fear that I want to talk about is,
we find in verse 28, the fear of failure in life. Most people
feel like that they're going to strike out in life. I think
most young people feel that way. They feel that there's not any
possibility that they're ever going to amount to very much
in this life. Now some people are arrogant
and some are very presumptuous, but I believe that the poor afflicted
children of God, those that are the saints of God who are tried
and tested in this world, they often feel that they will not
succeed. They often feel that they'll
never be able to live the Christian life, and they do not understand
what's going on in their lives day by day. Many things are happening. Many adverse things come into
their life. Many troubles, many difficulties.
Many strange things happen to them, and they're not able to
explain what it is that's going on in their life. And so we fear
failure, and we fear that we're just going to strike out, and
nothing is ever going to really become of our lives. Well, the
Apostle Paul would tell us this morning, he would say, and we
know that all things Those things that you can't understand. Those
things you can't explain. Those mysterious things that
are taking place in your life. Those difficult situations you
don't seem to be able to get a handle on. He says, and we
know that all these things work together for good to them that
love God. To them in whom the love of God
has been planted. God's love has been shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit when we were regenerated. And
we do love God. The Bible says we love Him because
He first loved us. We do indeed love God. Jesus said if God were your Father,
you would love Me. You would indeed love Me. And
so it's been fixed that we love God if we're in Christ Jesus. If we know Him and are in Him,
then we do love Him. to them who are called according
to His purpose. Now, this tells us that God had
a purpose when He called us. And that's why all things will
work together for our good, and we do not have to fear failure
as a child of God because God had a purpose. And everything
that's working out in your life, and the trials, and the tests,
and the difficulties, and the struggles, and the uphill battles
in your life. If you're a true child of God
in Christ, it's all working together for your good. God has a purpose
for your life. He has a purpose in sending these
things into your life. I used to scratch my head as
a young man and say, what is the Lord doing in my life? What is all of this about? Why
do I have so many troubles and so many tribulations and so many
tests? And why does it seem that I am
so often cast on the Lord? I must seek His face to obtain
strength and help to be able to make it through the day. Why
is this? And then I discovered that God
has a purpose in my life. He called me on purpose to do
that in me which He would have to be done. You know in Philippians
it says, that do all things without murmuring and disputing for it
is God which worketh in you both to will and to do according to
His good pleasure. Well, here Paul says that God
has a purpose, and so he's working that purpose out. And so we see
in the next verse that the end that God has in mind in all of
His purpose is that we be conformed to the very image of His Son,
Jesus Christ. Now beloved, regardless of whether
you believe it's true or not, God is working to that end through
your troubles and through your trials that you be made more
like the Lord Jesus. That you be conformed to His
image. That you be made a follower of His. That you will identify
with Him. That you will show Him forth
through your life in the world. And through trouble and trial
and difficulty, we're made to be more like the lowly Lord Jesus
Christ. We're to be more like Him, and
we become more like Him. And that's the purpose to which
God is working. And once I saw that, I could
see exactly what it was, how the Lord was doing that, shaping
and molding and working to the end. Now we'll never be completely
conformed to the image of Christ in this world. We'll never be
exactly like Him here in this world, but we're growing toward
Him. And when we finally go home to
glory, And we receive that glorified body that's been promised to
us in Holy Scripture. Yea, when we shall see Him as
He is, we'll be made like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
We'll be like Him. And so this is the purpose that
God has. Now somebody who's not in Christ,
somebody who don't love God, they cannot say this. They cannot
say that all things are working together for good to them. They
cannot say that God has His hand on my life, and that He's governing
what comes into my life, and how my life is lived, how my
days are lived. He's governing that. But if you're
not in Christ, then you can't say that, and this text is not
sent to you. But I hope this morning that
if you're a little perplexed, and a little despairing in your
heart, cast down and discouraged, that the Lord will lift you up
by showing you that everything that's happening to you is happening
for your good. It's happening for your good.
It will eventually work to the end that you'll be conformed
to His purpose, according to His purpose, yea, even to be
conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Now the second thing,
and like I said, I'm not going to preach on these much, The
second is found in verse 31, and I can remember back when
I was a young man, how that I had great fear of many enemies. And in verse 31, the fear of
our enemies, really and truthfully, have been removed. Now there
is much satanic power in this world. We are not able to say
a great deal about that. But we know that the demons of
hell are loose on this earth, and we know that Satan and his
cohorts are enemies of the saints of God. They're God's people's
enemy. Now the devil, we know the devil,
the Bible says, be sober, because your adversary, the devil, goes
about as a roaring lion, seeking whomever he might devour. Now,
beloved, we know we're no match for the devil. Our elder brother,
the Lord Jesus Christ, can handle him. And the spirit of this age,
we cannot handle the spirit of this age. We're not able to do
it. But Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, the second
Adam, the Lord from heaven, can control him and can deal with
him. But now the world is all about
us. And the Bible says the whole
world lies in the lap of the wicked one. This is an evil world. This is a sinful world. This
is a world that hates God and will not believe what the Holy
Word of God says and teaches. And men will not love the Lord
Jesus Christ on their own. They must be brought to it by
the new birth. But these enemies that we have,
now notice in verse 31, of the 8th chapter of the book of Romans.
Notice what this says, What shall we then say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? Who can be against
us? I'm not able to really tell you
what a blessing that was to me when I saw that word who. When
I saw that word, who? If God be for us, who can really
be against us? If God be for us, what good would
it do anybody to be against us? Now, beloved, this gives us fresh
courage and it gives us a great deal of strength of heart to
be strong in the Lord and the power of His might to be able
to face the various enemies that we have in this world. I'd like
for you to turn with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 6.
I want you to see about these enemies and why this is so important
that we get this message and the fear of these enemies. Are you afraid of the devil?
Well, you ought to be, unless you claim this passage of Scripture
and get deliverance. Are you afraid of demons? You ought to be, unless you have
one on your side who is almighty, who can deliver you. Now in the
book of Ephesians, I want you to turn over to chapter 6. Chapter
6. of Ephesians where the Bible
here is explicit. He says in verse 10, Finally,
my brethren, of chapter 6, Be strong in the Lord, and in the
power of his might. Be strong in the Lord. Put on
the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not. against flesh
and blood. It's not like we're having a
wrestling match with somebody our size, somebody of our strength. He says we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. So this is our enemy that Paul
is talking about. And that we're wrestling, but
not with flesh and blood. So therefore, we're not able
to handle these enemies. But only our elder brother, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so in verse 31, he says,
If God be for us, who can be against us? What good would it
do the devil to rise against us? Because God is going to defeat
him. He will raise up a standard against
our enemies. And he will defeat our enemies.
And he will fight for us. He will do battle against the
enemy on our behalf. So what good would it do anybody
to be against us? So when you go out of this place
today, lay that fear aside. This Word would deliver you from
the fear of your enemies. And never give a second thought
to them as long as you are laying hold in faith of this scripture
that says, if God be for us, who can be against us? Now the
third fear that I want to mention is the fear a final condemnation. And I want you to look, if you
will, at verse 33 and 34 here of our text, where the Apostle
Paul said, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Now beloved, we can deal with
the trials that we have, and the tests that we have in this
life, and by the grace of God overcome them through the power
of the Word. But beloved, one thing that we
cannot deal with is the fear of being condemned at the last.
The fear of being condemned at the last. Being condemned not
by our neighbor, or not by one of our brethren in the church,
but being condemned of God at the last. Now Paul the Apostle
has said in the first verse of this chapter, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And here he spells it out when
he said who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect.
God has chosen His people. God has sent His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to die for them. It is Christ that died, Paul
said in verse 34. Who can condemn seeing that it's
Christ that died? And I remember as a young believer,
one day I would feel like I was saved, and the next day I'd feel
like I was lost. One day I'd feel like that I
had the victory, and the next day I felt like I was defeated.
One day I felt like, well, surely, surely there must be something
to this business of being saved, and the next day I'd wonder if
there was anything to this business of being saved. But then after
a while, the Lord began to teach my heart, and one of the great,
great deliverances of my life was when God showed me that there
wasn't anyone that could lay anything to my charge. And Paul
here challenges the world, he challenges heaven and hell to
lay anything to the charge of God's elect. Now Paul the apostle
was not an innocent man by nature. He was a sinner. Fact is, he
was a murderer of Christians. But here's a man who said, after
growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and rising
in his soul to great faith, he said, who shall lay anything
to the charge of those whom God has chosen? And what does he
use as a foundation for that truth and that statement? He
said, it is God that justifies. In other words, if God justifies
a man on the basis of the death of his son through the imputed
righteousness of Christ, then, my friend, there's no one who
can condemn him. He cannot be condemned because
Christ was condemned in his place. The Lord Jesus Christ was condemned
on Calvary to an eternal death on that cross in order that we
might be delivered from eternal death. You know, His death was
our death. I believe I was in Him when He
died. I believe I was in Him when He came into this world.
I was chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. In Him
when He died. In Him when He was buried. In Him when He was
raised from the dead. And so, beloved, because He died,
I also have died in Him. Therefore, none can condemn me. I cannot be condemned. I've already
suffered the death of the law. The law demanded that the soul
that sinneth it must die. And Jesus died, and all of his
people in him died to sin. And therefore, the fear of being
finally condemned is laid aside. We don't have to deal with it
anymore, thanks being to God. That's one thing that does not
trouble me at all, is whether or not I'm going to be finally
condemned at last. Oh, my friend, if it was left
up to me, certainly. I'd already be in hell nine times
out of ten. But I'm here to tell you today
that there's no condemnation for all of those who are in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So let that fear be removed. Let it be wiped away. And then
lastly, in verses 35 through 39, we have the fear of being
separated from the love of God. You know, because we feel that,
like the world does, that if you're good, God will love you,
we sometimes struggle with whether or not we believe God's going
to keep on loving us or not. Now, beloved, I have always said,
ever since I started preaching the gospel, that if a man was
loved of God, he was well off. If God loves you, you're well
off, my friend. For to have the great God of
heaven and earth, the God who made these heavens and earth,
this form, this creation, to have this God, even the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God
of all comfort, to love me, to have Him to love me, I think
that puts me in a pretty good place. I really believe that. But you know, I used to worry
a great deal about whether God's going to keep on loving me or
not. Because you see, I'm not a very lovable person. And I
don't know how you esteem yourself. But if you're here today, and
you're just a common old sinner, born in sin, sinner by nature,
choice, and practice, you're not very lovely either. Fact
is, you're obnoxious to a holy God. But now we read here some
things that helps us to understand a little bit more about how it
is that God loves his people and that they will never be separated
from that love. Never be separated from his love. Notice he said, who shall separate
us in verse 35 from the love of Christ? Who? Who's going to
do it? Well, he enumerates here a great
deal of things. And then he comes down to the
end of the chapter in verse 39. He talks about in verse 38, things
present nor things to come. Things present nor things to
come. You say there are some things
right now in my life that are going to separate me from the
love of God. Well, Paul said things present are not going
to separate us from the love of God. Nor, he said, things
to come. He said, I'm afraid that in the
future something's going to happen, and I'm going to sin so against
God that I'll be separated from the love of God, and that He
won't love me anymore. Well, we take note, he said in
verse 39, nor height nor depth, go up as high as you can, go
as low as you can, nor, he mentions any other creature. shall be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. There's that statement again.
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now brethren, the important
thing here is to see that the love of God, yes, the love of
God is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's where it is. If I were
to get up here this morning and tell you that God loves all men
the same, I'd lie to you. That is not true. That is not
a true statement. God loves His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and why not? Why not? He did always those
things that are pleasing in His Father's sight. He never sinned. There was no guile found in His
mouth. He was holy, absolutely spotless,
without blemish, absolutely holy. Never sinned against the Father. The Father loves the Son, the
Bible says, and hath given all things into His hands. He loved
Him and gave all things into His hands. Now, brother, sister,
those of you that are in Christ, and you see, that's why this
becomes such an important investigation. That's why we must investigate
and question our own hearts, are we in Christ Jesus? Because if you're in Christ Jesus,
that's where the love of God is. And if God loves His Son,
and He does, He does. Then if I'm in His Son, then
He loves me like He loves His Son. And therefore, that love
will never change. The Bible says that Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's the same. And if the Father loves Him today,
He's going to love Him tomorrow, and He's going to love Him throughout
eternity. And if I'm in Him, then He's
going to love me too. And so he loved me. That's the
only reason why he saved me, was because he loved me in Christ.
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy without spot and blameless
before him in love. In love. And so we're loved of
God in Christ Jesus. You say, Preacher, do you mean
to tell me that there's some people that are not loved of
God? Well, I'm not here to single out or point out anybody who
may or may not be loved of God. I'm just telling you that if
you're not in Christ Jesus, than where the love of God is, that
you're not loved of God. Because the Bible teaches plainly
here, who shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now that's why the little statement
I made about not opening somebody else's mail is so important. Because if you're a true child
of God, you see, you can have this fear being removed. You
don't have to worry about God loving you. Because God didn't
love you at the beginning because of what you had done or had not
done. He loved you on the basis of what His Son, the Lord Jesus,
would do. About His character and His righteousness. It was all based on the person
of Christ. And now in Him, we're loved as
He is. Love with everlasting love. Love
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it's a wonderful thing to
have this fear removed. That you don't have to fear of
God quitting on you or that he'll cease to love you anymore. That's
a wonderful thing to have that fear removed. And I'm glad to
be able to say to you today here that I have great confidence
in the love of God. And I know that all God's people
are in that love. And they'll never be separated
from it. Because of who Christ is. Not because of who they are,
but because of who Jesus is. Are you in Him? Now the man who
is in Christ, he knows he's in Him. He knows he's in Him if
he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ with all of his heart.
If he knows that that the Lord's given him a new heart, and that
he's embraced Christ with all of his heart, and he's become
a follower of Christ, an imitator of Christ through the new birth.
If he loves the Lord Jesus Christ, if it's in his heart to love
Him, and to walk in His ways, he knows that he's been given
a new heart, and that he belongs to Christ. I hope these fears
have been removed from your heart. these fears of striking out,
not accomplishing anything, never amounting to anything, and that
everything is working against you, those fears, that that'll
be removed from you, because all things are working together
for your good and for God's glory. And then the fear of condemnation,
that we're going to be ultimately condemned, the fear of being
separated from the love of God. May God be pleased today to manifest
His truth to your heart and to lift and remove these fears from
you. Well, we've spoken briefly. We
normally would be preaching up until about 12 o'clock, but by
the grace of God we were able to finish early. May the Lord
bless you. Brother, would you lead us in
prayer?